Duterte wants BBL signed to law before Congress takes June break
President Rodrigo Duterte wants the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) to be signed into law before Congress adjourns sine die on June 1.
This was disclosed in a letter dated April 2 from Secretary Adelino Sitoy, head of the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office, to Senate President Aqulino “Koko” Pimentel III.
In the letter, Sitoy stated that the President has directed him to “to urge the Congress to hasten the passage of the Bangsamoro bill so it can be ready for his (Duterte) signature before the next recess of Congress which will commence on June 2, 2018.”
READ: Duterte: I’m racing against time to have BBL passed
Congress has been on break since March 23 and would resume its sessions on May 14. It will adjourn sine die on June 1.
Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri, who leads the hearings on the BBL as chair of the Senate local government subcommittee, said he would try to get the chamber’s approval of the measure by May 23 or one week before the June 1 adjournment.
The last week of session in May, he said, would allow the Senate and the House of Representatives to reconcile their BBL versions in a bicameral conference committee and have it ratified before the sine die.
“I will end the period of interpellations by 21st and start the amendments both individual and committee by the 22nd. Approve it on third and final reading the day after if it is ratified,” Zubiri said in a statement.
“So i appeal to my colleagues the need to focus on the BBL as peace is needed in our part of the country. The BBL is the final push that is needed for that elusive peace,” he said. /muf
